Marinehaus

Last month I was lucky enough to travel to Germany for the first time, and spent an evening staying with friends in Berlin. I had a terrible cold, but was determined to try some authentic German cuisine, so they took me out to their local pub. This isn’t a trendy, on the foodie-map venue (there are no English menus), but it was exactly what I wanted to try. Seated in the nautical-themed space, I ordered the Berliner Haxenpfanne (EUR 12.99) – hello pork knuckle. The plate was huge, and packed with both meat and sides. The pork had been stripped off the bone, and whilst a bit tough and dry on the outside, was beautifully tender and tasty on the inside. I was particularly excited by the large portion of saurkraut (one of my favourite things), and found it pretty much the same as the sort you get in Australia. The small amount of lettuce and tomato in the middle was a nice relief from the heavy dish, because the next thing on the plate was semmelknoel, a kind of bread dumpling that, in this case, resembled roast potatoes. The dumplings had a fun, spongey texture and were nicely seasoned on the outside. Perfect for a freezing Berlin night.